So I watched the Ben Franklin show on History channel, and they said he stood up and presented the Connecticut Compromise. I’ve never heard this before, and no where I look it up mentions his involvement.
I know he supported equal representation except for when concerned about money, but never that he was the person who proposed it.
Has anyone else heard this or can they give cites?
According tothis cite andthis one, Roger Sherman was the originator and promoter of the Connecticut Compromise.
Actually, Franklin was really a sort of Emeritus delegate. He was something like 82 and in such poor health that he was carried from his lodgings to the convention by prisoners from a local prison. I’m not sure than any one of his few suggestions was adopted.
nods I thought so, but History channel had some expert on it who said that he got up and presented it. I’ll watch a re-broadcast to make sure I didn’t misunderstand what he said.
Thanks.
Well, the History channel is interesting to watch but they don’t seem to worry too much about strict historical accuracy.
For example, on a D-Day program they showed B-25’s in formation dropping bombs. On this board I said that I knew for a fact that there were no operational B-25 groups in the ETO. Actually I was mistaken, the RAF had some. However to show B-25’s (with US markings) as representative of the D-Day bombings was certainly highly misleading and shows sloppy work since film makers have plenty of stock footage of the actual US bombing planes involved - B24, B26 and B-17.
David McCullough’s excellent and exhaustive biography on John Adams discusses the Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention in detail. In his descriptions, Franklin was not an active participant in either. Mostly, he lent weight and respectability to proposals suggested by others.
I suspect that you did. Franklin didn’t present the Connecticut compromise, or it would have been called the “Pennsylvania compromise”. 
He did, however, deliver a moving speech in support of it on June 20, 1787. Or at least, he delivered a moving speech while the Convention was debating the compromise. He didn’t discuss the merits of the plan in any detail, but rather made general remarks insisting that the delegates keep working in a spirit of concord. He ended by urging the Convention to appoint a chaplain and pray for divine guidance.
Coming from anyone else, this might have been considered fatuous, but Franklin commanded such respect that his soft words had a way of calming tempers. The Convention everntually approved the compromise on July 13.